Congo lines

A brothel madam battles brutal realities in the Pulitzer-winning 'Ruined'

No brawls, no bullets — and, if you’re a miner, you’d
better wash your feet and hands in the bucket outside. These are some of
the rules to be followed at the Congolese brothel run by Mama Nadi in
Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Ruined,” which Peppermint Creek
Theatre Co. is producing as its season finale.

Tough-talking, cunning Mama Nadi has designed her illicit
establishment as a haven for those who want to escape the terrors of
daily life, particularly the ongoing civil war that she refuses to
discuss. In a country of rough men and rough diamonds, Mama Nadi is
determined to maintain a place of peace and pleasure. So, in exchange
for cold beer, icy Fanta and steamy trysts with her stable of girls,
Mama Nadi expects her clientele to honor her high standards.

“Once you step through my door, then you’re in my house,” she declares. “And I make the rules here.”

But while Mama Nadi may be able to manipulate her
customers and her employees, she can’t shut out the realities of what’s
going on outside her door, nor can she turn away from the traumas her
employees have experienced: broken families, sexual slavery and the
disgrace of being “ruined” by rapists.

It’s a play that addresses what Peppermint Creek artistic
director Chad Badgero calls “topics that aren’t talked about,” which is
one of the reasons he was eager to add to it to his schedule.

“After reading ‘Ruined,’ I was overwhelmed by it,” Badgero
said. “I thought, ‘It’s not going to be done anywhere else in the
area,’ which was a huge motivating factor. That topicality is part of
our mission, and the subject of war, both here and abroad, is definitely
in our society. The show is intriguing in the way it addresses war
through the specific standpoint of these characters.”

Nottage’s script draws inspiration from Bertolt Brecht’s
“Mother Courage,” both in its theme of Mama Nadi simultaneously
profiting from conflict and suffering from it, and in its use of musical
interludes to add extra dimensions to the characters.

“The music brings a different tone to the production,”
Badgero said. “It gives the ability to set tone and atmosphere in a way
you can’t do solely with language. It gives a sense of locale and it
evokes a lot of emotion.”

Badgero picked Deborah Keller (Lansing Community College’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “American Buffalo”) to direct the show.

“That was an easy choice!” he said, with a laugh. “I’ve
worked with her before and we teach at LCC together. This play is really
daunting in a lot of ways, and it posed some casting challenges in our
town, as far as finding actors and directors who were willing to tackle
it in a brave, respectful way.

“This is the kind of material she thrives on, so this play
is so well-suited to her. She’s so brave; she doesn’t shrink back from
issues or topics in any manner. So it was a natural fit.”